Internet fling spawns shootings

November 18, 2009|By Willoughby Mariano, Sentinel Staff Writer

Orlando police are investigating a suicide and attempted murder involving two people who met on the Internet.

Police were called to the 5300 block of Elm Court about 10:15 p.m. Sunday after Paula Harris, 30, shot Andre Barboza, 44, several times outside his home, Orlando police spokeswoman Barbara Jones said. Barboza told police he met Harris on a Yahoo.com Web site, Jones said. She sent him a picture she said was of her, but it was not.

They did not start a relationship, but Barboza stayed in contact with Harris after she told him she had a terminal illness, Barboza told investigators.

Harris traveled from her home in Georgia to wait for Barboza at his Middlebrook Pines condominium near South Kirkman and Conroy roads Sunday night. She confronted him, shot him, then turned the gun on herself, Jones said. Harris died. Barboza was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, Jones said.